Having composed the music for The stage work Rewards for the Tribe (Chunky Move/Restless RISING 2022) it has been a joy to revisit this work, while scoring the feature film about the making of the show.
The acclaimed, genre-defying Chunky Move and beloved Adelaide-based company Restless Dance Theatre – whose troupe consists of performers with disabilities – develop a major new work that tests the boundaries of group harmony and myths of creative perfection. This is a journey in which dancers Jianna, Mike, Charlie, Ben, Darcy and Cody find a shared creative language that will take them from their homes in Adelaide and Melbourne to the international stage in the UK. Shifting from documentary and intimate reflections by the artists, to unsettling and dreamlike sequences of dance and intellectual provocations, the film is cheeky, thoughtful and expansive, guiding us to understand the rewards of rethinking perfection and harmony. A provocative, cinematic and playful dance documentary, Rewards for the Tribe traces a remarkable collaboration between two of Australia’s most challenging companies.